Wendy~
So glad that you & Dan are back! We missed you SO MUCH!!!
(although we did have a good time playing while you were away)
Really enjoyed all the pics from the crawl.
You are so fortunate to have all of these wonderful people in your life.
~kele

lunavideogames we had the best time ever. Especially fun because we hung out with Moai Mike and Polynesian Pattie. I'll have to work hard to relieve the boredom, I liked that comment.

Atomic Tiki Punk I'm going to miss all these fun posts. We'll have to be absent more often, NOT!

hang10tiki ATP- strong work brother...... I didn't know you were brothers.

WaikikianMoeKele the Sacramento Ohana is a great group of huggy people with fun homes to visit. We are already looking forward to next year. I hope you will all play here whenever we leave because I sure had fun returning to see it all.

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Today I'll start some catch up.

Duane O. aka Psycho Tiki D invented the Sacramento Crawl 8 years ago. I hope that means he did the first one in 2006. He started something very special because these events bring us together as friends. We see each other between crawls and always enjoy our time together.

Marlene aka VampiressRN wanted Duane to be honored at the crawl this year for all the work it takes to organize the crawl. We all wanted to say thank you for all the fun and joy he has brought to us.

I volunteered to make a mug for him, kind of a trophy. So I altered a Tiki Bob by putting a goatee on it to resemble him.

First I printed the text in the size I thought would fit on the mug.

I added his goatee.

I carved the words into the backside of the mug.

The rest of the lettering shows here.

I turned it into palm wood.

After the bisque fire and scrubbing I added black glaze to fill in the words.

After it dried I wiped off all the excess glaze leaving it in the lettering grooves.

Next I painted over the lettering with the palm wood glaze.

I painted his face. Hi Duane - Psycho Tiki D.

I left the mug in the shed to dry.

The lettering in black is now hidden by the other glaze.

After firing the front looked like this.

The lettering wasn't perfect. I think I put the palm wood glaze on too thick.

The bottom.

Duane came over to pick up his severed head mug. I had hidden his thank you mug.

Final photo in the MadDogMike studio.

Psycho Tiki D gets his mug. In case you haven't met Duane he is one of the nicest guys ever and a dear friend of mine and the entire tiki community.

Not too often do I come on and post on TC threads anymore but your actions, efforts and words make it too difficult not to post. I am a very lucky person to have become friends with so many who share the same passion for Tiki that I do. I am humbled by the thoughtfullness of our Ohana and for the wonderful Tiki Bob mug you made for me. You are the greatest hands-down.

Our very first attempt at a Sacramento get together was back on December 10, 2006. Wendy, you are correct, this would be eight years of celebrating our local embrace of sharing our homes and our collections with our community.

Through a series of emails our first gathering was born. moondog426 was the one who originally posted the thread for the first meet-up, Sacramento Day December 10, 2006:

I was brand new to collecting Tiki at the time and was eager to meet those of like mind.

Many of the original attendees have hosted and/or attended over the years-
Dave and Eva, Brad and Melanie, Ken and Beth, Mike and Alia and Brooke.

This has grown from a one afternoon/evening event to a full blown three day extravaganza and over the years we have had the pleasure of viewing and sharing so many wonderful spaces.

In 2010 I approached Wendy Cevola, whom I considered a treasure, not only for the massive and impressive collection she and Dan had amassed, but because of her incredible talent as an artist and I asked if she would be willing to create a mug for our crawl. I had no idea what it took to make a mug and little did I know what I was asking. If you have followed this thread from the start, you will see the result of Wendy's creativy since she began making our crawl mugs, which incidently has been done for the past four years. Not that Wendy wasn't making Tiki sculpts before this...Dan's collection has many unique one-of-a-kind items made long before Wendy started making our crawl mugs (which is why I thought it would be so easy for Wendy to make us a mug)!

After a six year run of organizing the local event, I felt it was time to hand off the mantle to someone else. Fortunately for our local Ohana, Marelene took up the torch and has expanded and improved this event and for this I am truly grateful, not only that Marlene took charge, but that it continued on.

So I was very humbled last Saturday night when I attend the crawl for the first time in two years. At Matt and Melody's house I was presented the mug Wendy made for me along with a copy of a Minnie's menu signed by the guests who attended this years crawl with well wishes and warm thoughts.

I want to express my appreciation to everyone who has attended or hosted our local event from the inception through this year and beyond. We have always been able to rely upon our local Ohana to come through with specatacular showcasing, some pretty incredible shows and of course, tasty food and drink for the guests. Mahalos to you all.

And it might seem it goes without saying, but I cannot thank Wendy, Dan or Marlene enough for all they have done to contribute to our Ohana and these events. You are very special people in my and I cherish being able to call you my friends!

Duane, I can't hug you enough for your wonderful post. Thank you for taking the time to share so much history. I love having it here on my thread and I shared your post on the event thread too. You brighten so many days for us all. You are a treasured friend.
Wendy and Dan

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I am truly back to work. Today I'd will share the steps to make the thank you mug for Marlene aka VampiressRN. It's easy to guess what her mug will look like.

Yep it's a VampiressRN mug.

To make small objects like teeth I use a tiny wet paint brush to shape them.

Next I carved a line around the face.

Added eyelashes and the RN in the heart. Marlene has the dearest heart of anyone you'd meet.

I carved the Sacramento Ohana thank you on the back.

Now it slowly dried in a loose bag for a couple of weeks and then was bisque fired. Here I've just glazed the inside of the mug.

For this mug I filled each word with red glaze and then let it dry.

Next I filled each letter with wax resist so that the black glaze for the body wouldn't fill in and hide the words.

NOw I painted the body.

See how the black glaze pulls away from the wax resist? Even where it didn't pull away it did when the mug was fired.

Front done and drying.

Back done and drying.

Now it went into the kiln to fire over night.

Front done.

Although the back was ok I later painted the letters in red enamel and set the enamel by baking it in the home oven. I thought it looked better without any white showing.